Method, apparatus, and system for processing EMPS in a CSFB mechanism

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus, and a system for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism. The method in the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: receiving a CSFB access request of a user equipment; determining that the user equipment has a CSFB priority service right according to acquired priority service information of the user equipment; and providing a CSFB access service preferentially for the user equipment with the CSFB priority service right.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2010/071754, filed on Apr. 14, 2010, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and inparticular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for processing aneMPS (Enhanced Multimedia Priority Service, enhanced multimedia priorityservice) in a CSFB (Circuit Switched fallback, circuit switchedfallback) mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

When an emergency or processing of an emergent affair occurs, acongestion of network resources may be caused. However, to ensure thework of people such as government officials, firemen and policemen usingthe normally used network resources, these people may be given thepriority to use the network resources that these people can still accessthe network and acquire services during a network congestion. Theservice that a specific user has the priority to access the network iscalled eMPS.

An EPS (Evolved Packet System, an evolved packet system) is a new mobilecommunication network defined under the guidance of an evolved plan.Although the EPS has a new network framework, a lot of voice services ofan operator run in a CS (Circuit Switched, circuit switched) domain ofan original 2G or 3G network. To reuse the existing CS domain in theEPS, the industry provides a technology of connecting a CS domain corenetwork to an EPS network through an MSC (Mobile Switch Center, mobileswitch center) entity in a 2G or 3G network and falling back to the CSdomain through the connection to execute the voice service. Thetechnology is called CSFB. The main execution process of CSFB includes:

When a UE (User Equipment, user equipment) prepares to initiate a CSmobile originating (Mobile Originating, MO) service, the UE needs toswitch to the 2G or 3G network preferentially and choose to camp on one2G or 3G cell, and then starts the MO service; when the MSC entityreceives one mobile terminated (MT, Mobile Terminated) service, througha SGs interface between the MSC entity and an MME (Mobility ManagementEntity, mobility management entity), the MSC entity sends an MT pagingmessage to the MME, and the MME pages the UE through an EPS network;after receiving the MT paging message, the UE first needs to switch tothe 2G or 3G network preferentially and choose to camp on one 2G or 3Gcell, and then completes subsequent processing of the MT service.

If a network side fails to learn whether a UE has a priority accessright when the eMPS needs to be performed in the CSFB mechanism, thenetwork side fails to provide an eMPS service for the UE.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus, anda system for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism. A user equipmentwith an eMPS priority access right may get a corresponding priorityservice in the CSFB mechanism.

To achieve the preceding objective, embodiments of the present inventionadopt the following technical solutions:

A method for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism includes:

receiving a CSFB access request of a user equipment;

determining that the user equipment has a CSFB priority service rightaccording to acquired priority service information of the userequipment; and

providing a CSFB access service preferentially for the user equipmentwith the CSFB priority service right.

An apparatus for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a CSFB access request of a userequipment;

an acquisition unit, configured to acquire priority service informationof the user equipment;

a determination unit, configured to, after the receiving unit receivesthe CSFB access request, determine that the user equipment has a CSFBpriority service right according to the priority service information ofthe user equipment acquired by the acquisition unit; and

a priority execution unit, configured to provide a CSFB access servicepreferentially for the user equipment with the CSFB priority serviceright determined by the determination unit.

A system for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism includes:

a mobility management entity, configured to receive a CSFB accessrequest of a user equipment, determine that the user equipment has aCSFB priority service right according to acquired priority serviceinformation of the user equipment, and provide a CSFB access servicepreferentially for the user equipment with the CSFB priority serviceright.

Technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present inventionhave the following beneficial effects. A method for realizing eMPS in aCSFB mechanism is provided, so that a specific user with a CSFB priorityaccess right is given the priority to fall back to a 2G or 3G network toacquire voice services in a CS domain, thereby ensuring conversationexperience of the specific user. When network resources are limited orcongested, the specific user can perform a normal voice conversation forthe right acquired in time, thereby avoiding service rejection by anetwork side and ensuring that significant voice conversations, such astimely rescue, can be performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention or in the prior art more clearly, the accompanying drawingsrequired for describing the embodiments or the prior art are introducedbelow briefly. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the followingdescriptions merely show some of the embodiments of the presentinvention, and persons of ordinary skill in the art can obtain otherdrawings according to the accompanying drawings without creativeefforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method for processing an eMPS in aCSFB mechanism in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an attachment process inEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of another attachmentprocess in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an MO process inEmbodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for processing an eMPS in aCSFB mechanism in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for processingan eMPS in a CSFB mechanism in Embodiment 3 of the present invention;and

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for processingan eMPS in a CSFB mechanism in another embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention arehereinafter described clearly and completely with reference to theaccompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.Evidently, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of thepresent invention, rather than all embodiments of the present invention.All other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the artbased on the embodiments of the present invention without creativeefforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.In addition, the embodiments herein are all optional solutions of thepresent invention. The arranging sequence and the numbering of theembodiments are not related to their optimal execution sequence.

Embodiment 1

The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for processingan eMPS in a CSFB mechanism, and as shown in FIG. 1, the method includesthe following steps.

101: An MME acquires priority service information of a UE.

Specifically, with reference to a scenario shown in FIG. 2, 101 may beimplemented in the following manner:

In an attachment process performed by the UE with a network side toaccess a network, an initial attachment process can be normally executedaccording to a standard in the prior art. The initial attachment processincludes that, the UE which initiates the attachment process is alreadyknown to an MME, an MSC or a VLR (Visitor Location Register, visitorlocation register) and an HSS (being an MSC entity or VLR specificallydepends on the deployment of the network side, and this part isunrelated to the embodiment, which is therefore no longer describedhere; however, the MSC entity in the embodiment and in the embodimentsbelow all can be replaced by the VLR). That is, all the MME, MSC and HSSknow with which UE the interaction is performed. In the embodiment, theUE with which the interaction is performed is set as UE1; and theattachment process continues to be normally performed according to thestandard in the prior art until the MME sends a location update requestmessage to the MSC entity to request location update, for example, theHSS transmits user subscription data in the CS domain of UE1 stored onthe HSS to the MSC entity.

After the MSC entity receives the location update request message, theuser subscription data in the CS domain of UE1 is checked to checkwhether the priority service information of UE1 exists. In theembodiment, it is assumed that the user subscription data in the CSdomain of UE1 includes priority service information (if subscriptioninformation of the CS domain does not include the priority serviceinformation, it indicates that UE1 does not have an eMPS right orindicates other reasons, and in such case, UE1 is processed as a commonuser. Because this case is unrelated to the embodiment, no moreconsideration or explanation is made herein), the priority serviceinformation is added into a location update acknowledgment message andsent to the MME. That is to say, by using the location updateacknowledgment message, the MME acquires the priority serviceinformation of UE1 stored on the MSC entity from the MSC entity.

In the embodiment, the priority service information may be eMPS priorityinformation in the user subscription data in the CS domain, and may alsobe a priority service indication, where the specific form is notlimited. In the embodiment and other embodiments, the eMPS refers to aservice that the network side provides for the user equipmentpreferentially, and the eMPS may also be expressed with other names,which is not limited herein.

The eMPS priority information of the user subscription data includes:

an eMPS indicator for indicating whether UE1 is a UE that is accessedpreferentially, for example, when an eMPS indicator is included, itindicates that UE1 is indicated to be the UE that is accessedpreferentially, and when the eMPS indicator is not included, itindicates that UE1 is indicated to be not the UE that is accessedpreferentially; and/or

a priority level indicator of UE1, for example, the priority levelindicator ranges from “1” to “N”, where “1” indicates the highestpriority level, “2” indicates the second high priority level, which islower than the priority level of “1”, the priority level of “3” is lowerthan the priority level of “2”, . . . , and “N” indicates the lowestpriority level.

It should be noted that the expression forms of the eMPS indicator andthe priority level indicator are not limited.

When the priority service information includes the eMPS priorityinformation, the MSC may add the priority service information in theuser subscription data in the CS domain of UE1 stored on the MSC intothe location update acknowledgment message and send the location updateacknowledgment message to the MME; or when the priority serviceinformation includes the priority service indication of UE1, the MSC maydetermine whether UE1 has a CSFB priority service right according to theeMPS priority information of UE1 stored on the MSC, and add thedetermination result into the location update acknowledgment message asthe priority service information in the form of the priority serviceindication and send the location update acknowledgment message to theMME.

After the MSC entity sends the location update acknowledgment message tothe MME, the MME performs the required attachment process in thefollowing, which is not repeated herein. The MSC may also be replaced bythe VLR.

With reference to the scenario shown in FIG. 3, 101 may also beimplemented in the following manner:

In the attachment process performed by UE1 with the network side toaccess the network, the initial attachment process may be normallyexecuted according to the standard in the prior art. The initialattachment process includes that, which initiates the attachment processis already known to a base station, the MME, a service gateway, a packetdata gateway, a policy and charging rules function and the HSS (HomeSubscriber Server, home subscriber server). That is, it is already knownthat the interaction is performed with UE1; and UE1 sends a combinedattach request message to the MME through the base station.

In such case, the MME may acquire the priority service information ofUE1 stored on the HSS from the HSS by using the location updateacknowledgment message, which, referring to FIG. 3, specificallyincludes:

301: After receiving the combined attach request message, the MME sendsa location update request message to the HSS; and optionally, thelocation update request message may include a request for the priorityservice information of UE1.

302: According to the request for the priority service information ofUE1 included in the message, the HSS adds the priority serviceinformation of UE1 stored on the HSS into the location updateacknowledgment message and sends the location update acknowledgmentmessage to the MME.

Alternatively, in 301, the inclusion of the request for the priorityservice information of UE1 in the location update request message is notregarded as an event triggering condition, but the receiving of thelocation update request message by the HSS is regarded as the eventtriggering condition. In such case, in step 302, after the locationupdate request message is received, the HSS may check whether thepriority service information is included in subscription data of UE1; ifyes, the priority service information of UE1 is added into the locationupdate acknowledgment message and sent to the MME; and if not, thelocation update acknowledgment message does not include the priorityservice information.

The priority service information acquired by the MME in 301 is the sameas the priority service information in a scenario shown in FIG. 2, andaccording to a design requirement, the priority service information maybe the eMPS priority information in the user subscription data in the CSdomain and the information may also be the priority service indication.For detailed content of the eMPS priority information of the usersubscription data, refer to the description above.

Correspondingly, when the priority service information includes the eMPSpriority information in the user subscription data in the CS domain, theHSS in 302 may directly add eMPS priority information into the locationupdate acknowledgment message as the priority service information andsend the location update acknowledgment message to the MME; when thepriority service information includes the priority service indication,the HSS in 302 may be required to determine whether UE1 has the CSFBpriority service right according to the eMPS priority information of UE1stored on the HSS, and add the determination result into the locationupdate acknowledgment message as the priority service information in theform of the priority service indication and send the location updateacknowledgment message to the MME.

The continued attachment process may be normally performed according tothe standard in the prior art, which includes: establishing an airinterface and a wireless side bearer, and notifying the service gatewayto update a bearer address until UE1 completes network attachment. Thedetailed description is not repeated herein.

102: The MME receives a CSFB access request of the UE.

Specifically, with reference to that the CSFB access request is a CSFBpriority access request, and in the scenario shown in FIG. 4, 102 may beimplemented in the following manner: in an MO process of UE1, including:when an RRC (Radio Resource Control, radio resource control) connectionis established between UE1 and the base station, adding the CSFBpriority access request into an RRC Establishment cause (RRCestablishment cause) message and notifying the base station that UE1requests CSFB priority access; when the base station establishes an S1connection with the MME, adding the CSFB priority access request into anInitial UE context (initial UE context) message and notifying the MMEthat UE1 requests CSFB priority access; after the RRC connection and theS1 connection are both established, sending, by UE1, an extended servicerequest message to the MME to request the CSFB priority access. Theseparts can all be performed according to the existing standard until theMME receives the extended service request message including the CSFBaccess request from UE1.

It should be noted that, step 101 and step 102 do not have a strictsequence during execution.

103: The MME determines that the user equipment has the CSFB priorityservice right according to the priority service information and providesa CSFB access service preferentially for the user equipment with theCSFB priority service right.

The CSFB priority service right mentioned in the embodiment of thepresent invention may be a priority service right in a CS voice domainof the user and may also be the service right separately set, for theuser, whether to execute a CSFB preferentially, where the specific formis not limited in the embodiment of the present invention, and thepriority service right that allows the user to access the networkpreferentially in a CSFB process may all be called the CSFB priorityservice right. Correspondingly, the information for expressing the CSFBpriority service right of the user may be called CSFB priority serviceinformation.

After the MME determines that UE1 has the CSFB priority service right,in the CSFB process, if resources are limited (for example, thecongested network leads to the limited resources), it is possible toenable UE1 to preferentially fall back to the CS domain to execute acorresponding service, such as a voice service; it is also possible topreferentially execute a CSFB service of UE1 when the resources are notlimited; and when the resources are limited, it is possible to rejectthe process that the user equipment without the CSFB priority serviceright falls back to the CS domain.

Because in the attachment process of 101, the MME acquires the priorityservice information of UE1 from the MSC or the HSS, the MME maydetermine the CSFB priority service right requested by UE1 according tothe priority service information.

Referring to the scenario shown in FIG. 4, an implementation of 103 isas follows:

When the acquired priority service information is the eMPS priorityinformation of the user subscription data, the determining the CSFBpriority service right requested by the user equipment according to thepriority service information includes the following:

The MME determines the priority service indication of UE1 according tothe eMPS priority information; if the priority service indicationindicates that UE1 has a CSFB priority access right, determining thatUE1 has the right to preferentially fall back to the CS domain; andotherwise, determines that UE1 does not have the right to preferentiallyfall back to the CS domain.

For example, the MME determines, according to the eMPS priorityinformation, that the priority service indication of UE1 indicates thatUE1 has the right. That is, the indication indicates that UE1 has theCSFB priority access right. Then, the MME determines that UE1 has theright to preferentially fall back to the CS domain.

When the acquired priority service information is the priority serviceindication, the determining the CSFB priority service right requested bythe user equipment according to the priority service informationincludes:

If the priority service indication indicates that UE1 has the CSFBpriority access right, the MME gives UE1 the right to preferentiallyfall back to the CS domain; and otherwise, the MME determines that UE1does not have the right to preferentially fall back to the CS domain.

It should be noted that, 102 is described specifically by using thefollowing case as an example: the CSFB access request is the CSFBpriority access request. In fact, the CSFB access request cannot be theCSFB priority access request, but only is a pure CSFB access request,and in such case, the specific execution method is similar to theprocesses in the aforementioned 102 and 103, and a major difference isthat: in the specific execution of 102, the CSFB priority access requestdoes not need to be added into the message, and the CSFB access requestis not limited to being sent in the MO process and the CSFB accessrequest may be sent to the MME at any time when UE1 wants to fall backto the CS domain; correspondingly, in the specific execution of 103, itis also not limited to the MO process, and the receiving of the CSFBaccess request of UE1 at any time is regarded as the triggeringcondition and the step in 103 that the MME determines the CSFB priorityservice right requested by the user equipment according to the priorityservice information is performed. The step includes the following:

After receiving the CSFB access request sent by UE1, the MME determinesthat UE1 has the priority service right according to the acquired CSFBpriority service information, thereby providing the CSFB access servicepreferentially for the user equipment with the CSFB priority serviceright. That is, when the resources are limited, it is processed that theuser equipment with the CSFB priority service right is allowed topreferentially fall back to the CS domain, and it is possible to rejectthe process that the user equipment without the CSFB priority serviceright falls back to the CS domain.

After 103, the MME notifies the result of determining that the userequipment has the CSFB priority service right to the base station.Specifically, by using an S1-AP request message, the right result may becarried to the base station, so that the CSFB priority access right ofUE1 is notified to the base station. After learning that UE1 has theCSFB priority access right, the base station may process the message ofUE1 preferentially. For example, the base station requests a measurementreport from UE1 preferentially and searches for a handover target(namely, a 2G or 3G network cell) of UE1. The notifying of the result ofdetermining that the user equipment has the CSFB priority service rightto the base station by the MME may include: carrying the priorityservice indication to the base station directly by using the S1-APrequest message; or notifying the determined information that UE1 hasthe right to preferentially fall back to the CS domain to the basestation by using the S1-AP request message, so that the base station isable to learn that UE1 has the right to preferentially fall back to theCS domain; or notifying the determined information that UE1 does nothave the right to preferentially fall back to the CS domain to the basestation by using the S1-AP request message.

The subsequent execution method can continue to complete the MO processaccording to the existing standard, which includes that: the basestation sends an S1-AP response message to the MME, and if packetswitched domain (PS) switching is supported, a packet switched domainservice may also be executed after being switched to a 2G or 3G network.

By using the method provided in the embodiment, the MME may determinewhether the UE has the right to preferentially fall back to the CSdomain according to the acquired CSFB priority service information; andif yes, the UE falls back to the CS domain preferentially. Therefore, aneMPS service in the CSFB mechanism is implemented, so that a specificuser with the right to fall back to the CS domain preferentially mayacquire a corresponding priority service; and furthermore, the followingproblem may be prevented: a specific user cannot perform a voiceconversation normally as the right is not acquired in time due to thecongested network or the limited resources, which might delay theprocessing of an important event.

Embodiment 2

Specifically with reference to a scenario shown in FIG. 5, theembodiment provides a method for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism.A major difference between the method in the embodiment and the methodin Embodiment 1 is that, which involves only that a UE that requests fora CSFB priority access is given the right in an MO process.

The method includes the following steps:

201: In an MO process, a UE sends an extended service request message toan MME to request CSFB priority access.

References may be made to a specific implementation of 102 for 201,which is not repeated herein.

202: After the MME receives the extended service request, the MME sendsa request message to an MSC to request priority service information ofthe UE. After receiving the message, the MSC sends the priority serviceinformation of the UE to the MME by using a response message.

Specifically, the UE is set as UE1.

After receiving the extended service request, the MME requests thepriority service information of the UE from the MSC by using an eMPSnotification message. After receiving the eMPS notification message, theMSC detects user subscription data in the CS domain of UE1 stored on theMSC and check whether the priority service information of UE1 exists. Inthe embodiment, it is assumed that the priority service information ofUE1 is found (if not, it indicates that UE1 does not have an eMPS rightor indicates other reasons, and in such case, UE1 is processed as acommon user. Because this situation is unrelated to the embodiment, nomore consideration or explanation is made herein) and the priorityservice information is added into an eMPS notification acknowledgmentmessage and send the eMPS notification acknowledgment message to theMME.

The priority service information may be eMPS priority information in theuser subscription data in the CS domain, and may also be a priorityservice indication.

When the priority service information is the eMPS priority informationin the user subscription data, the eMPS priority information includes:

an eMPS indicator for indicating whether UE1 is a UE that is accessedpreferentially, for example, when an eMPS indicator is included, itindicates that UE1 is indicated to be the UE that is accessedpreferentially, and when the eMPS indicator is not included, itindicates that UE1 is indicated to be not the UE that is accessedpreferentially; and/or

a priority level indicator of UE1, for example, the priority levelindicator ranges from “1” to “N”, where “1” indicates the highestpriority level, “2” indicates the second high priority level, which islower than the priority level of “1”, the priority level of “3” is lowerthan the priority level of “2”, . . . , and “N” indicates the lowestpriority level.

The expression forms of the eMPS indicator and the priority levelindicator are not limited.

In the embodiment, when the priority service information includes theeMPS priority information, the MSC may add the eMPS priority informationin the user subscription data of UE1 acquired by or stored on the MSCinto the eMPS notification acknowledgment message as the priorityservice information and send the eMPS notification acknowledgmentmessage to the MME; or when the priority service information includesthe priority service indication of UE1, the MSC determines whether UE1has a CSFB priority service right according to the eMPS priorityinformation stored on the MSC, and adds the determination result intothe notification acknowledgment message as the priority serviceinformation in the form of the priority service indication and send thenotification acknowledgment message to the MME.

203: The MME determines that the user equipment has the CSFB priorityservice right according to the priority service information and providesa CSFB access service preferentially for the user equipment with theCSFB priority service right. That is: when the resources are limited, itis processed that the user equipment with the CSFB priority serviceright is allowed to preferentially fall back to the CS domain, and it ispossible to reject the process that the user equipment without the CSFBpriority service right falls back to the CS domain.

Because the priority service information acquired by the MME in 202 maybe the eMPS priority information of the user subscription data and mayalso be the priority service indication, there are two cases in 203correspondingly.

When the priority service information is the eMPS priority informationof the user subscription data, the determining the CSFB priority serviceright requested by the user equipment according to the priority serviceinformation includes:

determining the priority service indication of UE1 according to the eMPSpriority information; and

if the priority service indication indicates that UE1 has the CSFBpriority access right, determining that UE1 has the right topreferentially fall back to the CS domain; and otherwise, determiningthat UE1 does not have the right to preferentially fall back to the CSdomain.

When the priority service information is the priority serviceindication, the determining the CSFB priority service right requested bythe user equipment according to the priority service informationincludes:

if the priority service indication indicates that UE1 has the CSFBpriority access right, determining that UE1 has the right topreferentially fall back to the CS domain; and otherwise, determiningthat UE1 does not have the right to preferentially fall back to the CSdomain.

After 203, the MME may notify the result of determining that the userequipment has the CSFB priority service right to a base station.Specifically, by using an S1-AP request message, a right result may becarried to the base station, so that the CSFB priority access right ofUE1 is notified to the base station. After learning that UE1 has theCSFB priority access right, the base station processes the message ofUE1 preferentially. For example, the base station requests a measurementreport from UE1 preferentially and searches for a handover target(namely, a 2G or 3G network cell) of UE1. The right result may benotified to the base station by using the S1-AP request message thatcarries the priority service indication; and the right result may alsobe: the determined information that UE1 has the right to preferentiallyfall back to the CS domain is notified to the base station by using theS1-AP request message, so that the base station may enable UE1 topreferentially fall back to the CS domain. Alternatively, the determinedinformation that UE1 does not have the right to preferentially fall backto the CS domain is notified to the base station by using the S1-APrequest message.

A subsequent execution method may continue to complete the MO processaccording to an existing standard, which includes that: the base stationsends an S1-AP response message to the MME, and if packet switcheddomain (PS) switching is supported, a packet switched domain service mayalso be executed after being switched to a 2G or 3G network.

By using the method provided in the embodiment, in the MO process, thecorresponding priority service information is acquired for the UE thatrequests CSFB priority access and the process of determining whether theUE has the right to preferentially fall back to the CS domain iscompleted, so as to enable a specific user with the eMPS right to get aservice that is processed preferentially in the CSFB mechanism, therebyensuring voice conversation experience of the specific user andpreventing the problem that a network rejects to serve the specific userdue to the busy network or limited resources, which might delay theprocessing of an important event.

Embodiment 3

The embodiment provides an apparatus for processing an eMPS in a CSFBmechanism. As shown in FIG. 6, the apparatus includes: a receiving unit61, an acquisition unit 62, a determination unit 63 and a priorityexecution unit 65.

The receiving unit 61 is configured to receive a CSFB priority accessrequest of a UE; the acquisition unit 62 is configured to acquirepriority service information of the UE; the determination unit 63 isconfigured to: after the receiving unit 61 receives the CSFB priorityaccess request, determine that the UE has a CSFB priority service rightaccording to the priority service information of the user equipmentacquired by the acquisition unit 62; and the priority execution unit 65is configured to provide a CSFB access service preferentially for theuser equipment with the CSFB priority service right determined by thedetermination unit 63.

Another embodiment of the present invention further provides anapparatus for processing an eMPS in a CSFB mechanism. As shown in FIG.7, in the embodiment, the acquisition unit 62 may include at least oneof the following: a first acquisition module 621 and a secondacquisition module 622.

The first acquisition module 621 is configured to, in an attachmentprocess, acquire the priority service information of the UE stored on anMCS entity or a VLR from the MSC entity or the VLR by using a locationupdate acknowledgment message; and the second acquisition module 622 isconfigured to, in the attachment process, acquire the priority serviceinformation of the UE stored on an HSS from the HSS by using thelocation update acknowledgment message.

In another embodiment of the present invention, when a CSFB accessrequest received by the receiving unit 61 is the CSFB priority accessrequest, the acquisition unit 62 includes a third acquisition module 623correspondingly.

The third acquisition module 623 is configured to, in a mobileoriginating process, request the priority service information of the UEfrom the MSC entity or the VLR by using a request message and acquirethe priority service information of the UE stored on the MSC entity orthe VLR from the MSC entity or the VLR by using a response message.

As shown in FIG. 7, in another embodiment, the determination unit 63includes: a right determination module 631 and/or an information elementdetermination module 632.

The right determination module 631 is configured to, when the priorityservice information of the UE acquired by the acquisition unit 62includes eMPS priority information of user subscription data, determinea priority service indication of the UE according to the eMPS priorityinformation, and if the priority service indication indicates that theUE has a CSFB priority access right, determine that the UE has a rightto preferentially fall back to a circuit switched domain.

The information element determination module 632 is configured to, whenthe priority service information of the UE acquired by the acquisitionunit 62 includes the priority service indication, and if the priorityservice indication indicates that the UE has a CSFB priority accessright, determine that the UE has a right to preferentially fall back toa circuit switched domain.

In addition, optionally, in an apparatus provided in the otherembodiment, a notification unit 64 is further included.

The notification unit 64 is configured to notify the result ofdetermining that the user equipment has the CSFB priority service rightto a base station to enable the base station to provide a CSFB accessservice preferentially for the user equipment with the CSFB priorityservice right.

The apparatus for processing the eMPS in the CSFB mechanism provided inthe embodiment may be used as the MMEs in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2,and may also be installed or operated in the MMEs in Embodiment 1 andEmbodiment 2.

The apparatus provided in the embodiment has the following beneficialeffects. Through the function of the apparatus that the priority serviceinformation is acquired from a network device on which the priorityservice information is stored and it is determined whether therequesting UE has the right to preferentially fall back to the CS domainaccording to the priority service information, a specific user with theCSFB priority access right may be given the priority, so as to enablethe specific user to preferentially fall back to a 2G or 3G network toexecute voice services, thereby ensuring conversation experience of thespecific user; when the network resources are limited or the network iscongested, the specific user can perform a normal voice conversationbecause the right is acquired in time, thereby preventing the case thatthe service is rejected by a network side and ensuring that importantvoice conversations such as timely rescue can be performed.

Embodiment 4

The embodiment provides a system for processing an eMPS in a CSFBmechanism. The system mainly includes a mobility management entity.

The mobility management entity is configured to receive a CSFB accessrequest of a UE, determine that the UE has a CSFB priority service rightaccording to acquired priority service information of the UE, andprovide a CSFB access service preferentially for the UE with the CSFBpriority service right.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the system further includes a firstnetwork management device.

The first network management device is configured to, in an attachmentprocess, send the priority service information of the UE stored on thefirst network management device to the mobility management entity byusing a location update acknowledgment message; and correspondingly, themobility management entity is further configured to, in the attachmentprocess, acquire the priority service information of the user equipmentfrom the first network management device by using the location updateacknowledgment message.

Alternatively, the system further includes a second network managementdevice.

The second network management device is configured to, in a mobileoriginating process, receive a request message for acquiring thepriority service information of the UE from the mobility managemententity and send the priority service information of the UE stored on thesecond network management device to the mobility management entity byusing a response message; and in such case, correspondingly, themobility management entity is further configured to, in the mobileoriginating process, send the request message to the second networkmanagement device to acquire the priority service information of the UEand acquire the priority service information of the UE by using theresponse message sent by the second network management device.

The first network management device may be an HSS, an MSC or a VLR, andthe second network management device may be the MSC or the VLR.

In the system provided in the embodiment, the mobility management entitymay acquire the priority service information and determine, according tothe priority service information, a right for a user that requests CSFBpriority access. The eMPS is implemented in the CSFB mechanism, so thatit can be avoided that a network side rejects to service a user with aneMPS priority access right and it is ensured that the user with the eMPSpriority access right gets the corresponding service in the CSFB.

Through descriptions of the methods in the preceding embodiments, aperson skilled in the art may clearly understand that the presentinvention may be implemented through software by combining a necessarygeneral hardware platform, or through hardware. In most cases, however,the former is a preferred implementation manner. Based on suchunderstanding, the technical solutions in the present invention may beessentially or the part that contributes to the prior art may beembodied in the form of a software product. This computer softwareproduct is stored on a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk,hard disk and compact disk of a computer, and includes severalinstructions that are configured for a network device to execute themethod provided in each of the preceding embodiments of the presentinvention.

In conclusion, the above are merely specific implementation manners ofthe present invention. However, the scope of the present invention isnot limited thereto. Changes or replacements readily apparent to aperson skilled in the prior art within the technical scope of thepresent invention should fall within the protection scope of the presentinvention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention issubject to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing an enhanced multimediapriority service (eMPS) in a circuit switched fallback (CSFB) mechanism,comprising: receiving, by a mobility management entity (MME), a CSFBaccess request of a user equipment (UE); determining, by the MME,whether the UE has a CSFB priority service right according to priorityservice information of the UE, wherein the priority service informationis made available to the MME from a location update acknowledgementmessage sent from a home subscriber server (HSS) during attachment ofthe UE; and providing, by the MME, a CSFB access service preferentiallyfor the UE with the CSFB priority service right.
 2. The method accordingto claim 1, further comprising: notifying, by the MME, a result ofdetermining that the UE has the CSFB priority service right to a basestation to enable the base station to provide the CSFB access servicepreferentially for the UE with the CSFB priority service right.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the notifying includes notifying,by the MME, the result in an S1-AP request message sent by the MME tothe base station.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein thepriority service information includes eMPS priority information.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein before the receiving, by the MME,the access request of the UE, the method further comprising: sending, bythe MME, a location update request to the HSS; and receiving, by theMME, the location update acknowledgement message sent by the HSS.
 6. Amobility management entity (MME), comprising a non-transitory computerreadable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructionsfor implementing a plurality of modules, the modules comprising: anacquisition module, configured to acquire priority service informationof a user equipment (UE) in a location update acknowledgment messagesent from a home subscriber server (HSS) during attachment of the UE; areceiving module, configured to receive a CSFB access request of a userequipment (UE); a determination module, configured to: after thereceiving module receives the CSFB access request, determine whether theUE has a CSFB priority service right according to the priority serviceinformation acquired by the acquisition module; and a priority executionmodule, configured to provide-a CSFB access service preferentially forthe UE with the CSFB priority service right determined by thedetermination module.
 7. The MME according to claim 6, wherein theplurality of modules further comprises: a notification module,configured to notify a result of determining that the UE has the CSFBpriority service right to a base station to enable the base station toprovide the CSFB access service preferentially for the UE with the CSFBpriority service right.
 8. The MME according to claim 7, wherein thenotification module is configured to notify the result to the basestation in an S1-AP request message configured to be sent to the basestation.
 9. The MME according to claim 6, wherein the priority serviceinformation includes eMPS priority information.
 10. The MME according toclaim 6, wherein the modules further comprises a sending moduleconfigured to send a location update request to the HSS, and thereceiving module is further configured to receive the location updateacknowledgement message sent by the HSS.
 11. A system for processing aneMPS in a CSFB mechanism, comprising: a mobility management entity(MME), configured to acquire priority service information of a userequipment (UE) in a location update acknowledgment message from a homesubscriber server (HSS), receive a CSFB access request of the UE,determine whether the UE has a CSFB priority service right according tothe acquired priority service information of the UE, and provide a CSFBaccess service preferentially for the UE with the CSFB priority serviceright; and the HSS, configured to send the priority service informationof the UE to the MME in the location update acknowledgment message whenthe UE attaches.
 12. The system according to claim 11, wherein themobility management entity is further configured to notify a result ofdetermining whether the user equipment has the CSFB priority serviceright to a base station to enable the base station to provide the CSFBaccess service preferentially for the user equipment with the CSFBpriority service right.
 13. A method for processing an enhancedmultimedia priority service (eMPS), a circuit switched fallback (CSFB)mechanism for a plurality of user equipments (UEs), comprising:acquiring, by a mobility management entity (MME), priority serviceinformation of each UE sent from a home subscriber server (HSS) sentfrom a location update acknowledgment message during attachment of theUE; receiving, by the MME, a CSFB access request from each UE;determining, by the MME, whether each UE has CSFB priority servicerights according to the acquired priority service information of the UE;and providing, by the MME, a CSFB access service preferentially for theUE with the CSFB priority service rights.
 14. The method according toclaim 13, further comprising: sending, by the MME, an indicationindicating that the UE has the CSFB priority service rights to a basestation, so that the base station provides the CSFB access servicepreferentially for the UE with the CSFB priority service rights.
 15. Themethod according to claim 13, wherein the sending includes sending, bythe MME, the indication in an S1-AP request message sent to the basestation.
 16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the priorityservice information includes eMPS priority information.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein before the acquiring step, the methodfurther comprises: sending, by the MME, a location update request to theHSS; and receiving, by the MME, the location update acknowledgementmessage sent by the HSS.